Ice-removing track-clearer.



N0. 806,767. PATENTBD DEC. 12, 1905.

F. M. BANGROFT. 7

ICE REMOVING TRACK OLEARER.

A PPLIQATIONPILED M11122 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I 6 5 "J2 e M I %%f%;@ v l B) I Am io i mfmm J60 ATTORNEY,

Nb. 806,767. PATENTED DEC. 12, 1905. F. M. BANGROPT.

1GB REMOVING TRACK GLBARER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.22,'1905.

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WlT/VESSES: INVENTOR,

No. 806,767. PATENTED DEC. 12, 1905. F. M. BANGROPT.

ICE REMOVING TRACK GLEARER. APPLICATION rum) MAR.22, 1905.

MLKQ K 57 35 3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

INVENTOH,

WITNESSES:

g {QM/w 'f J60; ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ICE-REMOVING TRACK-CLEARER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 12, 1905.

Application filed March 22, 1905. Serial No. 251,355-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS M. BANCROFT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lowell, in the county of MiddleseX and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Ice-Re moving Track-Clearers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to ice-removing trackclearers, and comprises means for holding the cutters down to their proper height above the ground or pavement, means for securing the cutters rigidly to the cutter-bar in such a manner that individual cutters can easily be removed from the cutter-bar and replaced therein, a novel construction of the cutters, and means of varying the sweep of the cutter-bar.

1n the accompanying drawings, on three sheets, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section in perspective of an ice-removing trackclearer embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a plan of a cutter detached; Fig. 3, a vertical section of the cutter-bar and of a part of the shank of a cutter, showing in side elevation the cutter proper or removable bit; Fig. 4, a vertical transverse section of a cutter-shank and bit on the line 4 4-in Fig. 3; Fig. 5, a plan of the track-clearer with a part of the roof removed; Fig. 6, a side elevation of the same; Fig.7, a side elevation of the depressing devices and of means for raising and lowering the cutterbar wings or extensions; Fig. 8, an enlarged plan of the wing-controlling devices; Fig. 9, a plan, partly in horizontal section, on the line 9 9 in Fig. 7, of a part of the cutter-bar and a wing; Fig. 10, a section of the car or body of the track-clearer, showing the usual means of raising and lowering the shear.

The body A of the track-clearer is a car, preferably a box-car, provided with the usual Wheels (0, adapted to run on the rails B B of a railway-track.

The drawings, Figs. 1, 2, and 5, represent a common form of snow-plow for street-railways provided with my improvement applied thereto, the plow proper or shear being a plate C, which extends across the track and is rigidly secured to a frame having bars 0 0 arranged parallel with the rails where the rails are straight, said frame being hinged to floor timbers or sills of the car-body A and being raised out of action or lowered into action by any usual means, as by the means hereinafter described.

The shear C is curved forward along its upper edge at 0 to prevent the snow from flying over the top of said shear, and the diagonal arrangement of the shear with reference to the track causes the snow to be thrown to one side of the track B B. Sometimes the shear is inclined backward in both directions from the middlethat is, the angles made by the front of the shear with the inside of the rail are equal.

The shear when used merely for removing light snow will be held down by its own weight as near to the ground as the lifting devices will permit. Such a shear is not when used alone suitable for removing solid ice, because its lower edge is not strong enough and will be bent or broken by the ice, and its weight is not sufficient to prevent it from being thrown. up and down with the varying surface, thickness, and density of the ice.

I secure to the lower margin of the shear C a cutter-bar D by means of nuts 03 and bolts d, which pass through said shear in an obvious manner and which being withdrawn allow said bar to be removed and the shear to be used in the usual way in removing snow.

When the cutter-bar D is attached to the shear G, the latter throws the pieces of ice detached by the hereinafter-described cutters E, secured to said bar, to one side of the track instead of allowing said detached pieces to pass over said bar and to remain on said track.

It will be understood that both ends of the track-clearer are to be fitted up in the same manner to enable said clearer to operate in either direction and that the cutter-bar is raised and lowered with the shear.

The cutters, Figs. 2, 3, and 4, are each formed in two parts E F, each cutter having a rigid shank E, preferably of metal, provided -on top with a transverse shoulder 6, arranged at such an angle that when the top of said shank back of said shoulder is'placed against the bottom of the diagonally arranged cutter-bar D, with said shoulder against the front of the cutter-bar, the sides of said shank will be parallel with the bars 0 0, each shank E being secured in this position by a sufficient number (two being shown) of stout bolts 0Z which pass vertically through said shank and cutter-bar and are retained in place by nuts 6Z screwed on said bolts.

To each shank E is secured, as by bolts 6 or screws 6 or by both, a cutting-bit or cutter proper, F, the front end of said shank abutting against and fitting a backWardly-inclined shoulder f on said bit and filling the space between two cars f f which rise from said bit on opposite sides of said shank.

Each bit or cutter F is provided at its front end with a chisel or cutting edge f and with convex side edges f, and the bottom f of said bit is slightly convex laterally and longitudinally to keep. the edges f f from being dulled by gravelly surfaces with which the bottom of said bit may be brought in contact and to prevent said bits from digging through the ice into the ground. Said bits are so much wider than their shanks and are so arranged that the path of each cutter overlaps that of the next cutter.

The cutting-bits, owing to their slightlyconvex bottoms, have atendency to rise above the ice, and suitable means are provided-for holding them down to the proper level. For this purpose I may use devices similar to those employed to set and release the brakes of cars, as a vertical rod G, having a crank g or equivalent turning means, a ratchet-wheel 9, fast on said rod, a detent g arranged to be engaged with or disengaged from said ratchetwheel by the foot, and a chain g cable, or other flexible connecting means, the latter passing under a guide-wheel g and being attached at one end to the rod G, so as to be wound thereon by the turning of said rod, and at the other end of one end of a lever H. p The lever H is pivoted at h in a yoke 7L secured on a stout horizontal timber a, attached to the car-body A and projecting from the end thereof, and is connected by links [L if to another lever H, fulcrumed in hangers h it at its rear end below said timber a, and adapted at its front end to bear upon and depress the shear and attached cutter-bar I have shown a hook it, which rests upon a projection secured to the back of the shear. By winding the chain 9 on the rod G and pushing the detent 9 into engagement with the ratchet-Wheel g the cutter-bar and cutters will be positively prevented from rising.

A common means for lowering and raising the shear is shown in Fig. 10, and said means or any well-known devices for the same purpose may be used by me. This common means, Fig. 10, consists of a rod I, provided with a hand-wheel iand with a fast pinion 7;, which engages agear i rotary with another pinion f, the latter engaging a horizontal rack movable longitudinally in a horizontal guide @1 secured to the bottom of the floor of the car.

The rack a" is connected by a link 2' to one arm a", a horizontal rock-shaft i journaled below the car A, and another arm i of said shaft is connected by a link 2' to a cross-bar 0 which rigidly connects the bars 0 0 to each other, another arm, (not shown,) like the arm 2', being similarly connected by a link to said bar 0 near the other end of the latter. The

by links 1, '2

a manner that when the bars 0 0 are lowered their front or outer ends descend faster than their pivoted ends, so that when the shear is lowered the cutters F point slightly downward, as indicated in Fig. 3, where the line X may indicate the ground-level. This effect is caused by the upper link 6 being longer than the lower link 11 and by said links being arranged to diverge in a forward direction, as shown in Fig. 10.

The detent g must be released-from the ratchet-wheel 9 before the shear is raised by turning the hand-wheel i.

In some places itis desirable to extend the cutter-bar beyond the sides of the car-body A and in order to prevent injury to passing carriages to be able to withdraw these extending parts within the side lines of the car. It is sometimes desirable to incline upwardly and outwardlyfrom the track the path made by the track-clearer and to let the middle part of the cutter nearer to the track than the condition of the way outside of the rails would permit if the cutter-bar were straight and rigid throughout its length. I therefore provide the cutter-bar D with wings or extensions D D Figs. 7 and 9,. which reach beyond the ends of the shear and pivoted to said shear in such a manner as at will to be turned up within the ends of said shear.

A pivot cl is represented as passing through a wing I) or D (this description applying to either wing) and the cutter-bar D and as having an attaching leaf or arm (Z which issecured by a bolt d and screw (Z to said wing. A collar (Z or sleeve secured on said pivot back of said cutter-bar and secured thereon, as by a set-screw (Z retains said pivot in place. Back of the collar (Z on said pivot is arranged the hub (Z of a radial arm d", which is normally prevented from turning on said pivot by a set-screw (Z10, which being loosened allows the wing to be turned without turning said arm'd either into parallelism with or at an angle with thebody of the cutter-bar, when said screw cl being again set will prevent the wing from moving without movement of said arm d. The wings may thus be turned up so as not to project beyond the ends of the shear when not in use.

The ordinary adjustment of the wings into the proper angles with the cutter-bar in use is caused by the turning of a nearly horizontal rock-shaft J, supported in bearings j j, Figs. 7 and 8, on the holding-down lever H, said shaft J having ar'ms 1' which respectively extend up and down from the front or free end portion of said shaft, the free ends of said arms being connected by links f to the upper ends of the arms (i Abevel-gear J6, fast on the shaft J, engages another bevelgear 7' fast on a cross-shaft 7' journaled in the hangers 72 71, and a spur-gear fast on said cross-shaft, is engaged by another spurgear 70, fast on another shaft K, parallel with said shaft j and similarly journaled. The shaft K is provided with an arm is, connected by a rod 70 to a lever L, arranged within the car A and fulcrumed at its lower end, so that when the handle Z or upper end of said lever is drawn in one direction (to the rightin Fig. 7) the shaft is rotated to turn the wings upward on their pivots, and when said lever is 7 turned in the other direction said wings are moved into parallelism with the body of the cutter-bar.

A'detent-rod M, arranged to slide on said lever L, is caused by a spring on to engage notches n in an arc-shaped rackN to hold said lever in any desired position, and a small lever 0, pivoted on said leverL and adapted to be grasped by the same hand which grasps said lever L, raises the rod M out of said notches in an obvious manner.

The shaft J is raised and lowered with the lever H by means above described without materially affecting the relative positions of the cutter-bar and wings.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a track-clearer, the combination of a shear, means for holding down said shear, a cutter-bar carried by said shear, and cutters secured to said cutter-bar.

2. In a track-clearer, the combination of a cutter bar arranged diagonally, means for holding said cutter-bar down to operative position, cutters secured to said cutter-bar and arranged parallel with the path of said clearer and having convex sides which overlap the paths of adjacent cutters.

3. In a track-clearer, a cutter-bar arranged diagonally to the path of said clearer, cutters each comprising a shank rigidlysecured to said cutter bar and a cutting bit having a shoulder and ears to receive and fit said shank, and bolts to unite each bit to its shank.

4. In a track-clearer, the combination of a car-body, a shear, means for raising and lowering said shear, a lever mediately supported by said car-body, and engaging said shear, means supported on said body for depressing said lever and holding down said shear, and a cutter-bar and cutters carried by said shear.

5. In a track-clearer, the combination of a shear, a cutter-bar, cutters carried by said bar, wings or extensions, pivoted to said bar and adapted to extend beyond the ends of said shear and to be turned up Within the ends of said bar. 6. In a track-clearer, the combination of a car-body, a shear, connecting means to support said shear from said car-body, a cutterbar, supported by said shear, cutters carried by said bar, pivots supported and turning in said cutter-bar, extensions or wings rigidly secured to said pivots, in front ofsaid shear, arms secured to said pivots, arotary-shaft, having arms above and below the same, links connecting the arms of said shaft to the arms of said pivots, and means supported on said carbody for rotating said shaft to raise and lower said wings out of or into parallelism with said cutter-bar.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of witnesses.

. FRANCIS M. BANCROFT. Witnesses:

ALBERT M. MOORE, ALBERT E. MYERS. 

